CURRICULUM APPROACH IN
LANGUAGE TEACHING
INTRODUCTION
:- Approach is a way
of dealing with
something,a ways of doing
something. Curriculum approach is a way
of dealing with a curriculum,a way of doing /crating/ designing/ thinking about a curriculum. The development and
implementation of language teaching programs can be approached in several
different ways, each of which has different implications for curriculum
design.There are three curriculum approach in language teaching ,each differ
with respect to when issues related to Input,process & Outcomes are
addressed.
• Curriculum
development in language teaching can start from input, process or output.
• Each starting point
reflects different assumptions about both the means and ends of teaching and
learning.
Input, Process,
Output and the Curriculum
INPUT :- In
language teaching, Input refers to the linguistic content of a course. It seems
logical to assume that before we can teach a language, we need to decide what
linguistic content to teach. Once content has been selected it then needs to be
organized into teachable and learnable units as well as arranged in a rational
sequence. The result is a syllabus. There are many different conceptions of a
language syllabus. Different approaches to syllabus design reflect different
understandings of the nature of language and different views as to what the
essential building blocks of language proficiency are, such as vocabulary,
grammar, functions or text types. Criteria for the selection of syllabus units
include frequency, usefulness, simplicity, learnability and authenticity. Once
input has been determined, issues concerning teaching methods and the design of
classroom activities and materials can be addressed. These belong to the domain
of process.
PROCESS :- Process
refers to how teaching is carried out and constitutes the domain of methodology
in language teaching. Methodology encompasses the types of learning activities,
procedures and techniques that are employed by teachers when they teach and the
principles that underlie the design of the activities and exercises in their
textbooks and teaching resources.
OUTPUT :- Output
refers to learning outcomes, that is, what learners are able to do as the
result of a period of instruction. This might be a targeted level of
achievement on a proficiency scale
CURRICULUM :- The
term curriculum is used here to refer to the overall plan or design for a
course and how the content for a course is transformed into a blueprint for
teaching and learning which enables the desired learning outcomes to be
achieved.
Curriculum takes content (from external standards and local
goals) and shapes it into a plan for how to conduct effective teaching and
learning. It is thus more than a list of topics and lists of key facts and
skills (the “input” ). It is a map of how to achieve the “outputs” of desired
student performance, in which appropriate learning activities and assessments
are suggested to make it more likely that students achieve the desired results
(Wiggins and McTighe, 2006: 6).
THREE CURRICULUM APPROACH OF LANGUAGE TEACHING ARE DISCUSS
BELOW------------
FORWARD DESIGN
Forward design is based on the assumption that input,
process, and output are related in a linear fashion. In other words, before
decisions about methodology and output are determined, issues related to the content
of instruction need to be resolved.
INPUT ->
PROCESS -> OUTPUT
Fig:- Forward design
Curriculum design is seen to constitute a sequence of stages
that occur in a fixed order – an approach that has been referred to as a
‘waterfall’ model (Tessmer and Wedman, 1990) where the output from one stage
serves as the input to the stage that follows. This approach is described in
Richards and Rodgers (2001:143-44)
Wiggins and McTighe (2006:15) give an illustration of this process with an example of a typical forward-design lesson plan:
• The teacher chooses a topic for a lesson (e.g. racial prejudice)
• The teacher selects a resource (e.g. To Kill a Mocking-bird)
• The teacher chooses instructional methods based on the resource and the topic (e.g. a seminar to discuss the book and cooperative groups to analyze stereotypical images in films and on television)
• The teacher chooses essay questions to assess student understanding of the book.
In language teaching, forward planning is an option when the
aims of learning are understood in very general terms such as in courses in
‘general English’.
In developing a curriculum through moving from input to process and to output
require preparation of teaching planning dependinf on the language proficiency
of the learners for maintaining daily life situation.
Two Examples of Forward Design Approaches in Language
Teaching :- communicative language teaching and content based teaching/CLIL:
Implementing a Forward Design Curriculum :-
Content >
syllabus > methodology > outcomes > assessment
Figure 5. Implementing a Forward
Design
Central Design
central design, curriculum development starts with the
selection of teaching activities, techniques and methods rather than with the
elaboration of a detailed language syllabus or specification of learning
outcomes. Issues related to input and output are dealt with after a methodology
has been chosen or developed or during the process of teaching itself.
Research on teachers’ practices reveals that teachers often follow a central design approach when they develop their lessons by first considering the activities and teaching procedures they will use. Rather than starting their planning processes by detailed considerations of input or output, they start by thinking about the activities they will use in the classroom. While they assume that the exercises and activities they make use of will contribute to successful learning outcomes, it is the classroom processes they seek to provide for their learners that are generally their initial focus.
In general education this approach was advocated by Bruner
(1966) and Stenhouse (1975) who argued that curriculum development should start
by identifying the processes of inquiry and deliberation that drive teaching
and learning – processes such as investigation, decision-making reflection,
discussion, interpretation, critical thinking, making choices, co-operating
with others and so on. Content is chosen on the basis of how it promotes the
use of these processes and outcomes do not need to be specified in any degree
of detail, if at all.
Central design can thus be understood as a ‘learner-focused
and learning-oriented perspective’ (Leung, 2012).
Central Design in Language Teaching Novel Methods of the
1980s. Language teaching in the first part of the twentieth century was shaped
by teaching methods which reflected a forward planning approach. Methods such
as the Audiolingual method, Situational Language Teaching, and early versions
of Communicative Language Teaching had firm foundations in well-developed
syllabuses, either grammatically based or with a more communicative framework
as with CLT. But alternative bases for methods emerged in the second half of
the twentieth century with the emergence of a number of instructional designs
that rejected the need for pre-determined syllabuses or learning outcomes and
were built instead around specifications of classroom activities. These new
teaching methods and approaches started with process, rather than input or
output and were often recognized by the novel classroom practices they
employed.
Backward Design
The third approach to curriculum design is to begin with a
specification of learning outputs and to use these as the basis for developing
instructional processes and input.
Backward design starts with a careful statement of the
desired results or outcomes: appropriate teaching activities and content are
derived from the results of learning.
This is a
well-established tradition in curriculum design in general education and in
recent years has re-emerged as a prominent curriculum development approach in
language teaching.
It was sometimes described
as an ‘ends-means’ approach, as seen in the work of Tyler (1949) and Taba
(1962), who viewed instruction as the specification of ends as a pre-requite to
devising the means to reach them.
The process consists of: Step 1: diagnosis of needs Step 2: formulation of
objectives Step 3: selection of content Step 4: organization of content Step 5: selection of learning experiences Step 6: organization of
learning experiences Step 7: determination of what to evaluate and of the ways
of doing it
In language teaching a number of curriculum approaches and
procedures have been advocated that reflect the principles of backward design.
Needs Analysis. Identifying learning outcomes or objectives is
often seen to depend upon a systematic analysis of the learners’ communicative
needs, and emerged in the 1960s as part of the systems approach to curriculum
development – an aspect of the prevalent philosophy of educational
accountability from which the use of objectives was also derived
Task-based Language Teaching (Version 2). Needs analysis is
also the starting point for curriculum development in some versions of
Task-Based Language Teaching and is used to determine an inventory of
target-tasks learners need to be able to master in the target language
Competency-based Instruction (CpBI). Competency-Based
Instruction is another widely used example of backward design. With CpBI the
starting point of curriculum design is a specification of the learning outcomes
in terms of ‘competencies’ – the knowledge, skills and behaviors learners
involved in performing everyday tasks and activities and which learners should
master at the end of a course of study.
Conclusions
There is no best approach to curriculum design, and that
forward design, central design and backward design might each work well but in
different circumstances. Each approach has advocates and practitioners who can
cite examples of their successful implementation. They might also work
concurrently in some circumstances.
Features of the Three Approaches Compared
Forward design
|
Central design
|
Backward design
|
|
Syllabus
|
Language-centred Content divided into its key elements Sequenced from
simple to complex Pre-determined prior to a course Linear progression
|
Activity-based Content negotiated with learners Evolves during the
course Reflects the process of learning Sequence may be determined by the
learners
|
Needs based Ends-means approach Objectives or competency-based
Sequenced from partskills to whole Pre-determined prior to course Linear
progression
|
Methodology
|
Transmissive and teacherdirected Practice and control of elements
Imitation of models Explicit presentation of rules
|
Learner-centred Experiential learning Active engagement in
interaction and communication Meaning prioritized over accuracy Activities
that involve negotiation of meaning
|
Practice of part-skills Practice of real-life situations Accuracy
emphasized Learning and practice of expressions and formulaic language
|
Role of teacher
|
Teacher as instructor, model, and explainer Transmitter of knowledge
Reinforcer of correct language use
|
Teacher as facilitator Negotiator of content and process Encourager
of learner self-expression and autonom
|
Organizer of learning experiences Model of target language
performance Planner of learning experiences
|
Role of learner
|
Accurate mastery of language forms Application of learned material to
new contexts Understanding of language rules
|
Negotiator of learning content and modes of learning Development of
learning strategies Accept responsibility for learning and learner autonomy
|
Learning through practice and habit formation Mastery of
situationally appropriate language Awareness of correct usage
|
Assessment
|
Norm-referenced, summative end-of-semester or end-of-course test
Assessment of learning Cumulative mastery of taught forms
|
Negotiated assessment Assessment for learning Formative assessment
Self-assessment Develop capacity for self-reflection and selfevaluation
|
Criterion-referenced Performance based Summative assessment
Improvement oriented Assessment of learning Cumulative mastery of taught
patterns and uses
|
REFERENCE :- J.C. RICHARDS
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